Heights Union building breaks ground at 45% leased

Co-working giant WeWork commits to two floors in new 300,000-square-foot project

By Kevin McQuaid
| 6:00 a.m. February 8, 2019
| 2 Free Articles Remaining!

COURTESY RENDERING â€” With leases from WeWork Cos., Axogen Inc. and DPR Construction, the Heights Union office project breaks ground with 45% of its space committed.

Commercial Real Estate

A joint venture between The Heights’ developer SoHo Capital and Atlanta-based TPA Group have commenced construction on a seven-story office development within the 45-acre Heights project in north Tampa.

Thanks to leases with co-work behemoth WeWork Cos., surgical solutions firm AxoGen Inc. and contractor DPR Construction, the 300,000-square-foot project is already 45% committed.

WeWork announced last week that it would enter the Tampa market by leasing two floors, or 50,000 square feet, in the Heights Union building, in a deal negotiated by commercial real estate brokerage Cushman & Wakefield. That transaction followed a 75,000-square-foot lease from AxoGen and a 10,000-square-foot commitment from DPR, which also is building Heights Union.

When completed in Spring 2020, the two-building Heights Union project, at 345,000 square feet, will join the restored Armature Works mixed-use project and The Pearl Apartments on the site, both of which were developed by SoHo Capital.

The 2002 N. Tampa St. project, designed by Alfonso Architecture, also will feature 42,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and a 1,500-space parking garage.

WeWork, which was founded in New York nine years ago, is today Manhattan’s largest commercial tenant, with leases of more than six million square feet. In all, it operates nationally more than 425 locations in over 100 cities.

It joins Bay3 at Armature Works, a co-working business totaling 11,000 square feet owned and operated by Taryn Bruck, an Armature Works’ interior designer who is also the spouse of SoHo Capital Co-Founder Chas Bruck.

Heights Union also marks the latest Gulf Coast project for TPA Group, which also is developing the 49-acre Grand Oaks 75 Business Center in Tampa with up to 500,540 square feet; a 240,000-square-foot, three-building complex for event planner Gartner Inc. in Fort Myers; and the 72-acre North Point Suncoast, also in Tampa.

A TPA official did not return a telephone call for comment on the Heights Union project.